In recent years, electronic trading systems have gained widespread acceptance for the trading of a variety of items, such as goods, services, financial instruments, and commodities. For example, electronic trading systems may facilitate the trading of financial instruments and commodities such as stocks, bonds, currency, futures contracts, oil, and gold.
Generally, an electronic trading system receives and processes trading orders from traders. For example, an electronic trading system may process trading orders by matching buy orders for a particular item with sell orders for the same item. In placing a trading order, a trader may indicate that only a portion of the trading order should be displayed to other traders. This portion is referred to as the “displayed quantity.” An electronic trading system generally comprises rules that dictate the sequence in which trading orders are processed. These rules, however, often decrease or hinder the liquidity of trading products.